Overview

This
last stage of the PT takes you on trail (mostly) to the Suiattle
River Road. From the Cub & Itswoot Lakes basin you're done with
glacier travel, but the first few miles of trail demand some
attention to stay on route.

Getting There

The
“routes” of the Ptarmigan Traverse are consecutive stages
of a multi-day trek. The approach to Stage 5 is Stage
4. Unless you're going the opposite direction, in which case,
read the “Southern Start” paragraph in the Getting There
section of the PT
main page.

Route Description

Having
hiked up through the pass NW of Cub Lake, you're on the Bachelor
Creek Trail, at the head of (what else?) Bachelor Creek. Watch it
carefully so it doesn't get away from you. Though the trail is
covered in the book 100 Hikes in Washington – North
Cascades: Glacier Peak Region
(Ira Spring and Harvey Manning, The Mountaineers Press), the upper
part isn't marked on the USGS Dome Peak quad. There's no
mention of it at all on the USFS
trails web page for the area. The only mention I found of it on
the Web is on a page listing abandoned trails.

Begin with a walk in the park, following the creek trickling through
a shallow dell as it gently descends, heading NW for ½ mile
(800m). You're mostly in heather meadow, and the creek is small
enough to cross at will, but generally keep the creek on your left.
After that ½ mile, the creek and trail make a sharp left turn
to the SW and start crossing contour lines with a purpose.

The trail crosses to the S side of the creek and about a mile below
that left turn, dives into a major thicket of slide alder. I've been
down it twice and up it once, and haven't found a more reasonable
alternative from either direction. My most recent trip there was in
1991, so my memory of it is a bit general – go around that bend
in the creek, cross to the S, descend into Alder Hell, fight it for a
while, find a path back to the creek, and cross on a log to find a
perfectly good trail on the N side. Yes, I dropped my pack on the
trail and jogged up it to find it dead-ends. From there down to
Downey Creek, the trail is pretty straightforward.

Exiting
the slide alder (visible in the background), cross back to the N side
of bachelor Creek. The trail we're seeking is just a few feet behind
the photographer.

When
Ragu
submitted his photos from his 2005 trip I asked for an update on
trail conditions on Bachelor. I can't improve on his directions or
his story:

Funny you should ask
that question. My partner and I had a mini-epic on that descent,
which could have easily been avoided. We took a wrong turn in the
alder, and paid dearly. We traveled about a mile through all kinds of
crap... numerous bee hives, overgrown rock slides, pure hell. We
finally got smart enough and found the trail on the other side, just
before a never-ending sea of the thickest alder I've seen.

When descending down
Bachelor from the pass you lose the trail at about 5200', after
rounding the broad corner. Here's where you start hitting the huge
blow-down with some pretty big trees, that covers a good section of
the southeast face above Bachelor. We worked our way almost straight
down through the downed trees for a couple hundred feet, using some
as highways, and crossed back over the creek to the north side. We
soon got out of the fallen stuff, and into a forest of bigger trees.
We were able to pick up game trails here and there, and worked our
way down to where it flattens out a bit (4600-4700'). We crossed back
to the south of the creek, and quickly picked up the trail. The trail
through the alder was pretty good, and looked recently hacked...
until we took the wrong turn.

Our mistake was that
we came to a "Y" in the trail, and we went left. Going to
the right sends you back over the creek and to the trail on the north
side (approx. 4000-4200'), which goes all the way down to Downey
[Creek]. The other 2 in our group had taken the correct turn, and we
didn't see them again until back at the cars on the Suiattle. Then to
top it off... someone had swiped our stashed 12 pack of cold beers
hidden in the Suiattle!

As for camps, there
were several bivi sites on the shoulder just below the pass that
drops down to Bachelor. Some spots had better water sources than
others. On the Downey there were quite a few large bivi spots, and
well spaced out along the length of the creek. Most all of the spots
would be quite buggy.

The trail remains on the N side of Bachelor all
the way down to the Downey Creek trail at 2440 feet (740m). You're
still 6+ miles (10km) from the road, but the Downey Creek trail is
about as gentle as you can hope for in the N Cascades. The first 2 ½
miles is broad, flat valley bottom, then the valley begins to squeeze
in and drop. Most of the last 2 miles is about 400 feet (120m) above
the water, always on the E side. A couple of switchbacks drop you
down to the road at 1440 feet (440m). In 2005 the road was blocked
downvalley from the trailhead; the cars would be a half-mile walk W
on the road.

The
trail is usually in good condition, maintained for hikers and horses,
but check the Forest Service web page for an update. In 1991 the
storms of the previous winter had littered the trails with large
trees and washed out the Suiattle River road, forcing an additional
7-mile walk to the cars.

Peaks to Tempt You

If you
just can't get enough, the W ridge of Spire Point extends beyond Cub
Lake. Peak 7665/Marmot Head (map)
is less than a mile NNE of the campsites at the saddle NE of the
lake, and affords a spectacular view of the Spire Glacier and its
600-foot (180m) vertical headwall.

Peak
7088/Pilot Peak (map)
could be part of an alternate exit adventure. The Cascade Alpine
Guide says the ridge from Cub Pass is straightforward until just
below the peak. There, Beckey says, “A slanting tricky chimney
(class 4) was climbed on the N face to the ridge; the approach and
remainder of the climb are not difficult.” I suspect that
description was provided by people who carried only summit packs up
the chimney.

Or you
can go to Darrington and eat pizza.

Essential Gear

See
the Essential Gear section of the PT
Main Page. Stage 5 requires no climbing equipment.

Alternate Exits

From
the saddle above Cub Lake (The Cascade Alpine Guide calls it
Cub Pass.), follow the ridge SW toward Downey Mountain. In about 2
miles, just before crossing onto the Downey Mtn. map, things
get technical. Passing this
point involves the “slanting tricky class 4 chimney”
mentioned in the Pilot Peak paragraph above. If you're exiting along
this ridge, the only alternative to the chimney is a 1300-foot
descent, traverse, and 1700-foot climb, all on steep sidehill on th S
side. Three miles of ridge walking lead to a 6000-foot pass a mile E
of Downey Mountain. Descend the valley WNW to a little pond at 4740+
feet (map).

The
“Trails and Approaches” section of the Cascade Alpine
Guide mentions a Downey Mountain Way Trail hacked by a packer up to
this neighborhood. If you can find it, it will take you down to the
Downey Creek trail, about 2 miles from the road. If you can't locate
the trail, just traverse out away from the outlet creek and walk
downhill. It's fairly steep, but uniform.

I
haven't hiked or climbed anything on this ridge. All this grand
advice is based on the map and a paragraph or two in the book.
Personally, I'd just hike home and take a shower.

Images

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